Studio francophone

IA de "Little Kingdom"

AI are really hard to make, they must: - Don't be too heavy ("Pioneerz" AI can make the XBOX360 lag sometimes...) - Don't be silly (a good game with a stupid AI is a waste) - Don't be too smart (if the AI know the perfect solution, you will always die) - Don't cheat too much (it's supposed to follow the same rules as you) AI became complex really quickly, it's really a pain to debug. And in strategy game, AI is incredibly big.

So what have been done in Little Kingdom? I haven't aimed for a perfect AI; I've aimed for a realistic one. It doesn't analyze all the possibilities and don't choose the best solution. It's a fairly simple AI based on randomness and script. (Pioneerz 2 AI is more complex)

The buildings AI: A random position is selected, and then I launch the "selection script". It there is something interesting to build here, do it. (In most of the case, nothing is build) As the AI is launched a lot of time, the building pace is ok. (it's not too heavy because the script AI don't consume a lot) In addition, we can't guess what the AI will do.

The trade AI: It takes a look at the resources. If you have too many of a resources, a trade begun, if not the trade is stopped.

And so the Normal AI has a nearly human behavior. The easy AI doesn’t trade, don't delete buildings or resource. (=> they miss gathering possibilities and improve at a slower pace) The hard AI cheats a little when gathering resource. (Nearly impossible to see it but it help the AI to grow quickly)